British Open, 2022 Day 1: The cream is staying at the top. Fox's Red Foxes take Day 1 honors with a stellar, 347, edgeing Andy by one and Sobo by two. I saw very little of the action, but did hear that Ian Poulter sunk a 162 foot putt. As the announcer said, you can't practice that putt since putting greens are rarely that large... One player withdrew just before the start - my guy, Justin Rose. Fox noticed this and sent me the following note: Looks like your J Rose is a WD but he never made it to the tee. I believe in the sidebet you should replace him with the highest drafted golfer you did not start. Unfortunately I don't think it is the leader Cameron Young but would be Si Woo Kim, who shot a nice -3 today. So, unless anyone has a problem with this, I will replace Rose with Kim. Don't worry, i'm solidly in 7th place after day 1..... If anyone objects, I'll drop Kim and stay with Rose. Al or anyone, please add commentary on the action. Day 2 If you thought the Red Foxes kicked butt in Round 1, wait until you see the damage they did in Round 2. A334 total with every player whose score counted shooting in the 60's! Ikey should be happy with his team's 337, lead by Cam Smith's 64 - but it was only good enough for 2nd today. This is a two, maybe three horse race. Andy's boys are not too far back... but the rest of us suck. At least my team does. Oh well.... Al posted commentary on today's play and the relative benign conditions leading to really low scores. I think his observations were spot on. I will enjoy watching tomorrow and Sunday mornings. From Albert: I watched a fair amount of the golf today. For once, it was nice to see that there were not significant advantages/disadvantages based on early or late teetimes. The wind perked up a bit mid day, but calmed down and was never really a factor. And without the high winds… And with the rough being more wispy than gnarly… The course was pretty defenseless against the world's best players. And when you look at the top of the leaderboard, that is exactly what you will find… The world's best players will be teeing it up together in the last 4 or 5 groups tomorrow. Sure, Jon Rahm and JT are surprisingly not up in the top 10. But Gooch, Cantlay, Adam Scott, Tyrell Hatton, Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Victor Hovland, Rory McElroy, Cameron Young and Cameron Smith is pretty darn impressive. And other golfers like Fitzpatrick and Xander are not far behind. The cream seems to be rising to the top. (But don't get me started about Colin M missing the cut, that caused me some serious heart ache!) Has the technology of the game made the old course well, old? The final hole seems like a joke… People hitting drivers or even 3 words to the green as if it were a long par 3. Other par fours as well were being attacked from the T. With no wind, the winning score will be about -25. You would expect to see that at a Palm Springs tournament in January, but not at a prestigious major. I know it's sacrilegious to talk down St. Andrews old course, but I have been a bit underwhelmed this year. From Ike: I have watched none of The Open but following with a close eye. My 1st round pick—Morikawa—has largely been MIA the entire year, including this week. Theegala, albeit winless after gagging on 18 a couple of weeks ago, continues to impress. I would love to see some Scottish bluster tomorrow to separate the men from the boys and then a shootout on Sunday. Minus the wind, however, you may be spot on re: -25 to win. Have fun! TE From Andy: Sorry to all of you golf purists, but I find this Open unwatchable on TV, ok to listen to on radio. Golfer hits the ball. The ball rolls. I can’t tell if it was a good shot, on the green, or whatever! This golf blows. A And from Ike again: Back up to Bud in the booth… Day 3 Some things do not change..... The Red Foxes again blitzed the opponents, this time by 5 strokes over second place Jackie.... It helps Fox to have both McIlroy and Viktor Hovland on his team. One of the them will win tomorrow. After Jack was Sobo's team, only 4 back, followed by 5 teams all with a score of 282. Sorry Mags, your boys brought up the rear with 290. It sounds like most of CyberZahm are not fans of the Old Course. It is somewhat hard to watch with no definition to the holes. Look at it this way, we only have to put up with the links courses of Scotland and Ireland once a year. (plus last week...) I was very impressed with Rory's hole out from a bunker for eagle on #10. The shot of the tournament so far. Smith struggled all day, which surprised me. Enjoy the final day of the 150th Open. It is a special event despite the lack of wind / rain. Also, my apologies for screwing up Al's spreadsheet. He has again offered to tutor me ahead of the Masters in 2023. I will accept his help. Hans Day 4 Well, I was wrong, again.... The winner of The Open did not come from the final twosome.... Congratulations to the Champion Golfer of the Year, Cameron Smith. Smith's 64 - his second of the tournament, was very impressive. He starts the back 9 with 5 straight birdies, then three pars and a fantastic birdie on 18. His putting was amazing. He won the Open more than McIlroy lost the Open. Rory, on the other hand, could not buy a putt. This will hang with him for a while. As for our competition, Fox won the overall, which comes as no surprise to anyone. What was impressive was Mags' Mulligans taking first place on Sunday with a 269. It looked like Sobo's Pinseekers and Al's Dimpled Balls would tie for top honors with a 270, but no, they tied for second! The overall goes to Fox with a 1232, 17 better than Ikey's Heros and Al's Balls who tied for second with 1249. And Ikey gets the Major skin in the yearlong competition. Congrats to the winners. Sobo, I hope you have been keeping track of the $$. If not, let me know. Hans Winners Fox Andy Ikey Jack Mags Sobo Al Total Day 1 22.05 9.45 Day 2 22.05 9.45 Day 3 22.05 9.45 Day 4 22.05 4.72 4.73 Final 113.40 37.80 37.8 Total 179.55 9.45 47.25 9.45 22.05 4.72 42.53 315.00